Genre: Fiction
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Beyond the blossoming fields
As a young girl from a wealthy family, Ginko Ogino seems set for a conventional life in the male-dominated society of nineteenth-century Japan. But when she contracts gonorrhea from her husband, she suffers the disgrace of divorce. Forced to bear the humiliation of being treated by male doctors, she resolves to become a doctor herself…
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The square persimmon, and other stories
Short stories.
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Napoleon crazy and other stories
Short stories.
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Spinning tropics : a novel
When Yun becomes one of Hiro’s students, they are instantly drawn to each other. Hiro is a young Japanese woman who has recently moved to Vietnam to be a language teacher, and Yun is a shy, young Vietnamese woman studying Japanese, determined to make a better life for herself. For both of them, it is…
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The paradise bird tattoo (or, attempted double-suicide)
After leaving his job at an advertising agency, Ikushima flees the city and finds himself in the town of Amagasaki, where his brief encounters with troubled neighbors lead to a contemplation of suicide and eventually a love affair.
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The blue wolf : a novel of the life of Chinggis Khan
One of the world’s most ruthless warriors, Chinggis Khan conquered nearly all of Asia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, transforming the scattered and impoverished Mongols into an exceptionally proud and powerful nation. In this riveting and thoroughly researched portrait, Japan’s celebrated epic novelist drives at the root of the khan’s great desires and insatiable…
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Supermarket
After he resigns from his elite banking job to help a cousin manage a supermarket in post-World War II Japan, Kojima is challenged by a woman from his childhood to consider whether his business goals are worth his efforts.
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Woman on the other shore
This compelling novel, widely acclaimed for its perceptive portrayal of the everyday lives and struggles of Japanese women, struck a deep chord with readers throughout Japan. In 2005 it won the prestigious Naoki Prize, awarded semiannually for the best work of popular fiction by an established writer. Sayoko, a thirty-five-year-old homemaker with a three-year-old child,…
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Ten billion days and one hundred billion nights
Ten billion days–that is how long it will take the philosopher Plato to determine the true systems of the world. One hundred billion nights–that is how far into the future he and Christ and Siddhartha Gautama will travel into the future to witness the end of the world and also its fiery birth. Named the…
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Bullfight
In post-Second World War Japan, Tsugami, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, sets out to organise a bullfight. The project starts drowning in unforeseen logistical issues, while Tsugami’s relationship with his lover is also going under. Alone and focused, Tsugami persists in his bullfight plans, in a desperate and existential struggle….